Hawthorne High School’s boys basketball team plays for a state title, SEC hoops, UF Pro Day announced and more in our Wednesday Sports Update…

** Coach Greg Bowie and his Hawthorne High School boys basketball team plays for a state title today in Lakeland against Chipley in Class 1A. The Hornets advanced yesterday with a 57-40 win over Crescent City.

** The Florida men’s basketball team drops two games below .500 after losing to lowly Missouri 64-52 Tuesday night. The Tigers had lost 13 straight league games before beating the Gators, who next host Tennessee Saturday.

** In other SEC action, Arkansas is now in second place in the league by beating Texas A&M 81-75; LSU tops Auburn 84-61 and Alabama beats South Carolina 59-51. Tonight, Kentucky plays Mississippi State and Georgia plays Ole Miss.

** The Gator baseball team is now 7-1 after beating Florida Atlantic 10-8 last night in Jupiter, Florida; up next a home weekend series against Stony Brook.

** The Florida softball team takes a 16-0 record into a game today with UCF at home at 6 pm.

** Pro Day at the University of Florida, where NFL scouts and coaches come to evaluate Florida’s draft eligible talent is usually held in March but this year it will be held on April 7.

Unfortunately for Gator fans, Florida men’s basketball coach Billy Donovan will have to wait at least three more days to claim his 500th win. Florida lost its second straight game on Tuesday night, falling to the Missouri Tigers by a final score of 64-52.

It was a tale of two halves for both teams inside Mizzou Arena, with the Tigers making all the right plays down the stretch. The Gators held a 45-39 lead with just under 12 minutes remaining but in a span of 10 minutes, the Tigers went on a 16-2 run that would seal Florida’s fate.

The Gators (13-15, 6-9) played relatively well in the first half shooting a respectable 43 percent from the field. The Gators went into the locker room up 31-27 holding all the momentum and the hope was that very same success would continue for the final 20 minutes as well.

Unfortunately, that would not be the case, and once again, the Gators would see yet another second half lead slip away. Florida was outscored 37-21 in the second half, shooting just 33 percent from the field and while the team struggled in seemingly every facet down the stretch. Donovan noted the team’s poor shooting percentage from the charity stripe as the most disappointing.

“We go there 23 times which is a lot for us and you go 9-for-23. And in essence that was the game and we’ve never shot the ball particularly well, 5-of-23 from the three point line but we gave up 19 points, some of it from the free throw line, but we really just made some bad decisions when it was a six point game.”

The Gators finished the night with just two players in double figures in freshman forward Devin Robinson and senior center Jon Horford who scored 14 and 10 respectively. This was the third straight double digit game for the freshman and it would appear he is finally starting to figure things out. Robinson also finished with six rebounds and two blocks and it would seem the extra minutes that he has garnered with the absence of Michael Frazier II and Dorian Finney-Smith is really starting to pay off.

The surprise of the night had to be what the Gators saw out of Horford. Going into Tuesday night’s game, the former transfer hadn’t reached double figures in 15 games, and his 10 point first half performance was certainly an unexpected sight. Unfortunately, those would be the only points for the big man on the night, as Horford was unable to connect on either of the two shots he took in the second half.

Outside of those two, the Gators saw little success from anyone that touched the floor. Redshirt junior Eli Carter finished with just two points, shooting 1-of-7 from the field and sophomore point guard Kasey Hill ended the night with just five. To put things in perspective, the Gators third highest scorer was former walk-on Jacob Kurtz, who ended the night with seven. The Gators struggled to maintain any sort of consistency on offense and Donovan is still baffled as to why his team is simply unable to put all the pieces together.

“We’re trying as hard as we can, and for whatever reason, I’ve said it before, I’m unable, you know, having a hard time getting through to them and the things we’ve got to do that go into winning, and you try to practice them and work on them and talk to them and for whatever reason we’re not able to see it translate onto the court and into these games.”

The Tigers (8-20, 2-13) entered this game riding a whopping 13 game losing streak, in sole possession of last place in the SEC. Missouri’s only conference win came back on January 8th, in their SEC opener over LSU.

Since then, Tiger fans have found very little to cheer about, but on Tuesday night they simply would not be denied. Despite shooting 38 percent in the first half, the Tigers would turn things up a notch shooting a whopping 50 percent in the second half and that would propel them in the final 10 minutes.

The Tigers were led by an unlikely figure in freshman guard Namon Wright who put together a career night, finishing with 28 points on 10-of-13 shooting from the field. This was just Wright’s fourth double digit performance of the season and his first since January 17th against Tennessee.

Missouri’s leading scorer, Johnathan Williams III entered Tuesday’s game averaging a team high 12.4 points per game but finished with just nine. The underclassman shot just 1-of-4 from the field and did the majority of his damage from the free throw line. Despite Williams finishing with less than spectacular numbers, Donovan boasted about the play of Kim Anderson’s talented freshman.

“The guy that really hurt us was Wright; he shot the heck out of the ball. We didn’t really have anyone in our backcourt that could match up with him and he rose up over our guys who missed him in transition and he was able to carry the scoring load for them.”

Now the Gators will look to regroup as they return to Gainesville to meet Donnie Tyndall and the Tennessee Volunteers. This will be the first match up between the two schools this season and Donovan notes his guys will need to be prepared for a tough matchup.

“We’ll go against a complete zone team on Saturday and they’ll be a lot to get prepared for playing them for the first time. It will be a battle for this group.”

In the coming days Gator fans will find out whether or not they will see the return of either Michael Frazier II or Dorian Finney-Smith and with just three games left in the regular season, having one or both of their top two scorers back on the court would be a big lift.

If there is one positive you can take from the loss to Missouri, the Gators will now have two opportunities to give Billy Donovan his 500th win at home, in front of what they hope will be a capacity crowd inside the Stephen C. O’Connell Center.

The Gators trailed early, finding themselves down 3-0 following the second inning, but went back and forth with the Owls before placing themselves in the lead for good in the top of the eighth.

Right-handed sophomore Brett Morales got the start on the mound for the Gators, going just 2 and 2/3 innings, allowing four hits and three earned runs.

The Gators would go on to use six pitchers over the course of the game, with right-hander Mike Vinson picking up the win and right-hander Taylor Lewis picking up his second save of the season.

The Gators also struggled a bit in the field, matching FAU with three errors, and Florida head coach Kevin O’Sullivan talked about his team’s performance.

“It was one of those nights where both teams were a little sloppy. We uncharacteristically didn’t play great defense…made some mistakes on the defensive end,” O’Sullivan said. “Obviously we had the pitchers go to the mound tonight that were a little bit inconsistent, which was a little surprising because some of those guys are coming off of good outings in the last week or so.”

Although the pitching and defense were a bit shaky, the offense looked in top form.

The Gators banged out 13 hits to lead them to 10 runs. Freshman catcher JJ Schwarz drove in three runs for Florida, while junior shortstop Richie Martin scored three runs in the game. Sophomore outfielder Buddy Reed also had a strong night, recording three hits and scoring a pair of runs.

The Gators now look ahead to a weekend matchup with the Stony Brook Seawolves. O’Sullivan previewed the upcoming opponent.

“We got a good Stony Brook team coming in this weekend, a World Series team a few years ago,” O’Sullivan said. “They’ve got a really good number one starter. I think they’ll go left, left on the weekend, Friday and Saturday, with their starters. So another good weekend of playing someone that’s a good quality opponent.”

The Gators will host the Stony Brook Seawolves on Friday to open up the 3-game set at 7 p.m.

The Florida Gator men’s basketball team will be looking to right the ship on Tuesday night when they travel to Columbia to meet the Missouri Tigers.

With just four games left in the regular season the Gators will be looking to put together any sort of momentum as the SEC Tournament approaches. Luckily for the Gators they will be facing off with quite possibly the worst team in the SEC.

The Tigers (7-20, 1-13) enter this game dead last in the conference having lost 13 straight games. This will be the first meeting between the two schools this season and the fifth all-time.

The Gators (13-14, 6-8) are coming in fresh off a seven point loss to the LSU Tigers and haven’t fared much better in recent weeks having lost five of their last six. On Tuesday night the Gators will once again be without their top two scorers. Junior shooting guard Michael Frazier II will miss his fifth straight game with an ankle injury, while redshirt junior Dorian Finney-Smith will miss his second straight game after being suspended for a violation of team rules.

This means Billy Donovan’s squad will once again need “others” to step up in order for the team to find success. Against the Tigers, the Gators did finish with two players in double figures but Donovan notes his guys have been unable to play well for an entire 40 minutes.

“There are times when we play really, really good basketball, but then there are times when we don’t. I think they are battling, fighting and trying to do it, but we are just not able to do “it”, so to speak, long enough.”

The Gators have been struggling to find sufficient offense as they are currently shooting an abysmal 43 percent from the field, which ranks them 192nd in the country. With Frazier and Finney-Smith out, the team is shooting a poor 25 percent from beyond the arc. While the Gators will be going into this next game with their top scorer averaging just 8.9 points per game, Donovan knows his team his still capable of putting up points.

“We are challenged on offense; we are. I think if you look at the guys that are playing and you look at shooting percentages from the three-point, free throw and field, it’s a struggle. But, that doesn’t mean that you can’t be successful. What it means is that you have to be really committed to the things you have control over.”

The Tigers, despite being in the midst of one of their worst seasons ever, should pose a tough threat to the Gators. Despite just the seven wins, all of the Tigers victories have come inside Mizzou Arena. The Tigers are currently led by sophomore forward Johnathan Williams III who is averaging 12.4 points on the year. The underclassmen is tied for the team lead in blocks with 16 and leads the team in rebounds with 189 and Donovan notes his team will have to key in on him.

“He can catch it with his back to the basket and make post moves. He can catch it, step away from the basket and shoot threes. So, there is really nothing that he can’t do wherever he catches the ball that he can go make a play.”

A win on Tuesday night will be very important with the Gators looking to position themselves in a much better draw for the SEC Tournament. A win will also bring the Gators back to .500 on the season and if the team has any sort of postseason aspirations, every game will be make or break.

Donovan is also still stuck on 499 career wins and a win on Tuesday night would make Donovan the second fastest man to reach that mark, behind Bob Knight. That 500th win would without a doubt be the shining moment in the midst of a down year, and this game against one of the league’s worst, should be the Gators best chance of making that accomplishment happen.

Tip-off between the Gators and Tigers is set for 9 pm and you can hear all the action of Tuesday’s game on Country 103-7 the Gator with coverage starting at 8:25.

24 year-old Joey Logano, who started Sunday’s race in the fifth position, overcame a host of big names to become the second-youngest winner of the Daytona 500. The newly married man led just 31 laps on the day, but found the lead in a wild last two laps and was able to coast across the finish line due to a green-white-yellow-checkered finish.

“There was a lot of anxiety and a lot of nerves before the race,” Logano said. “It couldn’t be any better. It’s an amazing feeling that I can’t really put into words.”

Despite his win, Logano was nowhere to be heard in conversations during the week. Arguably the biggest storyline at Daytona was Jeff Gordon participating in his final race at the famed track. Gordon started in the pole position and led for a race-high 87 laps, but a late wreck gave him a 33rd place finish.

“I’m a little sad because this is my final Daytona 500,” Gordon said. “But I’m more upset that we didn’t have a shot to win at the end.”

Another notable name that’s certainly very well known around Daytona International is Dale Earnhardt Jr., who was looking to become the first back-to-back champion since Sterling Marlin in 1995. Junior was in contention throughout the race, but made a strategic error on a restart with 19 laps to go that dropped him from the front of the pack. He did battle back for a third place finish, but felt he could have got to victory lane.

“We had a really fast car, maybe the best car here,” Earnhardt said. “I’m just a little disappointed I let the guys down, we should’ve won the race.”

Earnhardt Jr. and his father were previously the only drivers to win the Daytona 500 when starting the race in the top five; Joey Logano joined that pair on Sunday. This was Logano’s seventh victory since the start of last season, which is tied for tops in NASCAR.

** A lot of Gator sports over the weekend. The highlights include a series win by baseball over Miami, softball’s wins to move them to 16-0 and women’s tennis extending its home court win streak to 138 straight matches.

The Florida women’s basketball team (12-14, 4-9 SEC) lost its third game in a row after falling to the Texas A&M Aggies 66-46 on Sunday afternoon.

The Gators shot just 32 percent from the field overall and went 6 of 12 from the free throw line. Florida also failed to make a three point shot in a game for the the first time since 2010 after going 0-8 from beyond the arc against the Aggies.

Gator head coach Amanda Butler says she thinks their bad shot selection had a lot to do with their woeful statistics on the offensive end.

“They play with a great deal of discipline. You know, it’s real easy to look at them, and them playing an aggressive style, and think it’s just their athleticism or their just aggressive, they’re trying to shoot the passing lanes…and they do a really good job of protecting the middle, getting tips, and forcing you into bad shots. And we took bad shots.”

The Gators leading scorer on the offensive end was forward Ronni Williams who had 14 points. However, her 14 points came on 17 shots (5-17). The only other Gator who scored in double figures was forward Haley Lorenzen who had 10 points.

Florida’s guard play was particularly painful to watch as both Carlie Needles and Cassie People’s shot a meager 1 of 10 from the field combined. Coach Butler says she thought they made poor decisions in the game.

“I think our guards really did a poor job of decision-making with their shots. You know, I thought that we forced a lot and didn’t do a good job of really trying to read and see what we were getting there. We just tried to force the action and didn’t make good decisions.”

On the defensive end, Florida allowed the Aggies to shoot 47 percent from the field behind the play of Texas A&M forward Courtney Williams, who had 11 points, eight rebounds and five assists.

Coach Butler hopes that they can move forward and not dwell on their play in this game.

“There’s not a lot from this game I want us to take away. I’m really disappointed in the way that we played. You know, there were spots when I thought that we executed and played pretty hard, but it just needs to be better all the way around.”

The Gators will try to redeem themselves when they face Alabama this Thursday night in Tuscaloosa. You can live pregame coverage on ESPN 850 WRUF starting at 6:45.

The Florida Gator softball team is now 16-0 after winning two games against Mercer on Sunday to capture the Aquafina Invitational title.

Pitcher Delanie Gourley captured the win in the circle for Florida and she got a lot of offensive help from left fielder Briana Little. Little broke two single game records with three home runs and nine RBIs on the day. Lauren Haeger also had a great game with a homer and two RBIs. Final score for the first game was 20-4.

The second game was much more competitive with a final score of 10-3. Kayli Kvistad was the talk of this game, as it seemed she was looking to break Briana Little’s single game home run record.Kvistad hit two homers, one in the second inning and one in the third. First basemen Taylor Schwarz bombed a home run into left field that brought the score to 9 to 3 in the bottom of the sixth and Aleshia Ocasio followed with her first homer of the season to put the Gators up by seven.

Next up for the Gators is a home game against UCF on Wednesday at 6 PM.

It was a perfect day outside at McKethan for the rubber match between the Florida baseball team and the Miami Hurricanes Sunday afternoon. After dropping Game Two of the series on Saturday, Florida was able to edge the Canes by a final of 2-1 on Sunday. Florida head coach Kevin O’Sullivan was satisfied with his team’s performance.

“We certainly had good enough at-bats and that’s what we are pleased about. A different lineup today with starting five freshmen, but I am really pleased with how they played. They all held it together and I think they are a mature group. Moving forward, this is a big weekend for us, but credit Miami because they played really well this weekend and have a really good club.”

Florida sophomore Dane Dunning picked up his second win this season with a no-hit five inning performance on the mound to start the game. Dunning struck out five in his time on the hill. Multiple other arms saw action in the game including Taylor Lewis who closed things out for the Orange and Blue. Lewis threw 1.1 innings and only faced five batters to earn his first career save and he talks about his performance.

“To tell you the truth, I’m the same all the time. I try to pitch against them like I would pitch against other teams. I try to go out there and throw strikes every time.”

After falling behind 1-0 in the second, the Gators bounced back in the third when they manufactured a run and then took the lead for good on Harrison Bader’s solo home run.

Florida’s next stop will be when they face FAU in Jupiter this Tuesday.